


a job well done

by titaniumsansa



Series: A Softer World [12]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Angst and Feels, Character Death, Dark, Death, F/F, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Minor Character Death, Murder, Oneshot, Out of Character, Past Abuse, Patricide, Potentially out of character, Prompt Fic, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-30 08:19:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14492763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/titaniumsansa/pseuds/titaniumsansa
Summary: Artemis visits her father's grave every year and keeps a secret. Based off a Softer World prompt. Snaibsel. All oneshots in the series are unrelated, can be read without reading others.





	a job well done

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sunkelles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunkelles/gifts).



> AN: I do not own anything. I think that if Artemis or Jade could have gotten away with it they might have tried to kill their dad. This is darker than I think Artemis usually is, but I liked writing it. The prompt for this one is: Every year on the anniversary of his death, I visit my father’s grave to make sure it took. (the satisfaction of a job well done.)

No one knows. Artemis knows that she was the one who put a hole in her father’s helmet, and that he died underwater. Choking, alone, and unmourned-Jade saw him and had to leave him. That couldn’t have been a very hard choice for her. Admittedly the timing wasn’t great but she did it. Finally.

The Light takes his body and gives it to her mother-she’s not sure if that was meant as a noble act or a reminder. Her mother buried him, and there was no funeral. Hell, she’s not even sure if anyone cried. No one mourned him from the League or Team, let alone anywhere else.

Kaldur asked if she was okay after Deathstroke found his body. Barely anyone remembers anymore, and Artemis is alone as she stands in the graveyard. It’s not a terrible cemetery as far as graveyards go, but it’s on the outskirts of Gotham. The cemetery is Just tucked away and easily forgotten, just like her father. All he wanted was a legacy, to live on, and everyone’s forgotten him. Artemis knows she remembers, but only to make sure he’s really gone. If she has kids, she’ll never tell them about him. Let all knowledge of him and his legacy die with her and Jade. Maybe she’ll even delete him out of the League’s records too.

She only thinks of him one day a year, the day she killed him. Bruce was a great mentor when she was on the Team and when she lived in Gotham, and she thinks of him too. Bruce is much easier to think about, and she knows he wouldn’t approve of her choice-but she’s not looking for his approval. She’s not looking for a father figure or judgement.

* * *

 

She starts dating Zatanna when she makes it into the League, and Artemis ends up thinking of fathers much more than she used to. Zatanna’s pain over her father is massive, a wound that will never close- a hemorrhage of pain she’ll never be able to stop.

“It’ll be three years tomorrow,” Zatanna says over dinner the night before and Artemis chews the bite of pizza in her mouth slowly. She doesn’t want to talk about it, and maybe someday if they get serious-she’ll tell Zatanna the secret.

“Of your father-you know-” Zatanna awkwardly trails off. Artemis nods, aware of what she’s referencing.

“Yeah,” Artemis offers, awkwardly. Zatanna would kill to have her dad back, and Artemis killed hers-she can’t help but think of how different they are. How different their dads were, and how different they are.

She’ll tell her, just not this year. Zatanna has enough ghosts to last her a lifetime.

* * *

 

When she visits, she doesn’t say anything to him. It’s a quiet drive out of Gotham and to the empty cemetery. There are no ghosts here-he’s passed on, right to hell where he belongs.

She’ll be back next year, just to be sure.


End file.
